i think it was the result of one election and i think as a result of the 2012 election it's already beginning to recede. >> reporter: so the fiscal cliff will be resolved? >> not right away. it will be resolved ultimately. the entrenchment of people who don't believe in government and the damage they have been able to cause because of that is diminishing. >> reporter: you haven't been particularly pugnacious today, but has it cost you, do you think, to have been as pugnacious as you have been over all these years? >> no. this is probably the media stereotyping. i can't think of any achievement i tried to accomplish. i guess people aren't as hypersensitive as that question would assume, by which i mean the notion that people would not go along with an important public policy because i hurt their feelings, i don't think that's true. >> reporter: what are you going to do next? >> i'm going to write two books, i hope, one on liberalism, one on the history of the gay rights movement, give lectures for pay, do some tv commentary, and i hope teach. >> reporter: standup comedy. we once talked many ye